Sunday, July 8, 2012

Summer shows at the House of Blues

The Myrtle Beach venue boasts numerous road trip concerts

Charleston has a vibrant music scene and plays host to some of the nation’s top acts, but there some artists don’t quite make here during their summer tours. Lucky for us, the reliable House of Blues in Myrtle Beach isn’t too far up the highway.

The venue has a full schedule of concerts to close out the summer, some of which are real standouts. In late July, two classic rock acts will take the stage on back-to-back nights. Southern rock vets .38 Special, led by Donnie Van Zant (brother of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s leader Ronnie Van Zant), will perform a full set of classic songs like “Hold on Loosely” and “Caught Up in You” on Thurs. July 19. Athens, Ga.-bred party-rockers the B-52’s will be in the house the next night on Fri. July 20 to keep the party going. The band recently celebrated its 35th anniversary and released a concert DVD titled With the Wild Crowd! Live In Athens, Ga.

August kicks off with a strong string of shows with British alternative rockers Bush, led by guitarist/vocalist Gavin Rossdale, on Wed. Aug. 1. The next night, ’70s prog-rock band Yes will perform with new lead singer Jon Davison on Thurs. Aug. 2. Two founding members, guitarist Steve Howe and bassist Chris Squire, will be on hand as well. The politically controversial guitar wild-man and Ted Nugent (formerly of the Amboy Dukes and the Damn Yankees) will close out the weekend on Sat. Aug. 4.

The middle-to-end of August is also looking stacked but with a slightly different vibe. The soulful Citizen Cope (a.k.a. Clarence Greenwood) will headline on Sat., Aug. 18. Six-string wizard Steve Vai — a veteran musician who worked with Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, and Whitesnake — will bring his band to the club on Fri. Aug. 24. The Hasidic reggae-rapper Matisyahu and his band will perform on Sat. Aug. 25.